Thornthwaite Crag

Thornthwaite Beacon, the summit cairn, is a stone column about 4.3 metres high, one of the finest built cairns in the Lakes. It stands where four ridges meet, and on the Kentmere Horseshoe it makes the obvious lunch stop.

Hartsop gives the steepest and most varied way up. From the rough car park at the end of the village road, walk up Pasture Beck to Threshthwaite Mouth, a deep col at about 590 metres, then climb the narrow, rough ridge east to the top. There are two rock steps on it, with loose stone, and the second may need you to face in and climb down if you come the other way. A gentler return goes along the grassy ridge of Gray Crag and down to the Hayeswater track. Walk Lakes puts that round at about 10.4 km and 836 metres of climbing, if you include Hartsop Dodd and Stony Cove Pike.

From Troutbeck you can follow the line of the Roman road up Scot Rake, and from Kentmere the fell is on the horseshoe between Froswick and Mardale Ill Bell. The ridges south and north east are broad and grassy, with some marshy ground towards High Street.

A stone wall comes up from Threshthwaite Mouth and crosses the grassy summit, and old fence posts carry on east towards High Street. The High Street Roman road climbs onto the plateau along the south ridge and then swings east around the summit. The views are best to the west, and they open out further as you walk to the edges of the plateau.